Gage Gallery Board Member.
Margo is a former resident of Penticton, B.C. There she was a member of the Tumbleweed Gallery, where she enjoyed the camaraderie and support of a small artists’ collective. Her family relocated to Victoria in 2006 and Margo managed to retain a long distance membership in the Tumbleweed, until she was invited to join the Gage in early 2015. Margo is now the most senior member of the Gage Artists Collective and continues to be very active on the Board of Directors and the Membership Committee.
Enrolled in a 2-year foundation program in Fine Arts at Langara College in Vancouver in 1985-86, Margo developed a love of sculpture and figure drawing. When she moved to acrylic and mixed media painting, those early influences never left her. “My method is to begin with layers of colour, applied straight from the tube in combinations of 2 or more at the same time. The mixing happens on the canvas. Various textures and patterns are created by the scraping action of the tool and paint over paint. Once that layer is down, I go in with a brush and create my images with white paint by “removing” what I don’t want, very much like a sculptor removing the material around their subject. The number of white layers varies – completely or only partially obscuring what’s below. Images may be enhanced by scratching into the paint or defining outlines with coloured pencils. This way of working satisfies my urge to sculpt and there is almost always a figurative element, sometimes quite hidden, in my paintings.”
